Method and System to Recover a Failed Flash of a Blade Service Processor in a Server Chassis

1. A method comprising: attempting to download computer code from a management module to a first data processing unit, the first data processing unit being one of a plurality of data processing units managed by the management module, the plurality of data processing units being coupled to the management module by a management pathway; in response to the computer code failing to properly download and thus resulting in the first data processing unit being unable to define its management pathway location on the management pathway, transmitting a failure signal from the first data processing unit to the management module using a special address on the management pathway; comparing management pathway locations of currently active data processing units with a list of all management pathway locations reserved for all of the plurality of data processing units, the currently active data processing units being from the plurality of data processing units; deducing the first data processing unit's management pathway location as being a management pathway location that is on the list of all management pathway locations but is not a management pathway location of one of the currently active data processing units; identifying a second data processing unit that does not know its management pathway location as a result of a failed computer code download; blocking communication from the management module to the second data processing unit; providing a first management pathway location to the first data processing unit; subsequently unblocking communication between the second data processing unit and the management module; and providing a second management pathway location to the second data processing unit.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing a management pathway location to the first data processing unit after deducing the first data processing unit's management pathway location.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the management pathway location of the first data processing unit is provided to the first data processing unit using a control logic that is compliant with the I 2 C bus specification and is coupled to the management pathway.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the control logic is under the control of the management module.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of data processing units are server blades.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the management module and the server blades are components of a server blade chassis.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the data processing units has a network interface card (NIC), and wherein the first data processing unit's management pathway location is an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the computer code is being downloaded into a service processor in the first data processing unit.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the computer code is attempted to be flashed into a flash memory in the service processor in the first data processing unit.